Admin cracks whip on illegal mining in Gurgaon

A day after HT first reported about illegal mining mafia operating in the Aravalli hills of Raisina and Gurgaon, the district administration sprang into action on Friday, convening a joint meeting of the officials from the millennium city and Mewat on May 29.

A day after HT first reported about illegal mining mafia operating in the Aravalli hills of Raisina and Gurgaon, the district administration sprang into action on Friday, convening a joint meeting of the officials from the millennium city and Mewat on May 29.

Officials from both districts would discuss strategies to control illegal mining in the area.

Contrary to the report published in the paper, which highlighted illegal mining, deputy commissioner of Gurgaon, TL Satyaprakash, said, “My officials have reported that they have been keeping vigil in the area and there has been no such activity in the past seven days.”

“The area may be on the borders of Gurgaon and Mewat, which make it difficult to identify which district administration should intervene,” Satyaprakash added.

HT had reported on Friday that the mining mafia is operating in at least four live mines near Raisina and Gurgaon under the nose of the district administration and defence services. One of the mines is situated just three kilometres from a defence establishment in village Mohammadpur Ahir.

An HT team had also visited the area and witnessed at least three dynamite blasts within half an hour from live mines. The illegal mining is also the primary source of income and employment for the local villagers.

The report also mentioned that a 50-feet deep lake in Raisina, which dried up in the past six months, has now been turned into an active mining site.

Residents say these blasts are a regular occurrence and the flying stone splinters have also broken windows of neighbouring farmhouses. About 200-300 truckloads of stones are mined out of each mining site every day and villagers from Kharak and Bhango are mainly operating in these mining pits.